Computer systems, and in particular distributed computer networks that execute application programs may encounter exceptional situations. These exceptional situations may be unexpected, and may have impact on other parties participating at the network. Therefore, the applications of the computer system or the distributed computer network generate alerts to inform one or more users about the exceptional situation. Such kinds of alerts may be the termination of a contract, a delivery problem for an order, a decline in revenue, or technical problems in a system.
A central point to collect, view, and act upon exception messages related to Advanced Planner and Optimizer (APO—a software product delivered by SAP Aktiengesellschaft, Walldorf, Germany) and other supply chain management (SCM) data across applications, is the Alert Monitor provided by SAP. Up to now, the functions to actively inform users of the existence of alerts are limited insofar as one can assign an alert profile to a user such that the corresponding alerts are evaluated for messaging. This is done by a report, which can be started interactively or scheduled periodically for a selection of users. With this mechanism, alerts are sent by SAP office or e-mail. The alert information that is selected through the alert profile is always aggregated: given is the number of alerts by alert type and priority only. In addition in the e-mail there is a hyperlink to the alert monitor's web screen. Further, it has been possible to send individual alerts interactively from the alert monitor display using SAP office, which also allows sending notes with the alert.